This is Proenza Schouler’s last pre-collection. Going forward, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough will be designing two collections per year (with four or five deliveries each) and showing in Paris during couture week, to boot. As glam as that sounds, it’s a practical matter. With four collections a year, Hernandez and McCollough devoted themselves to runway shows and hired a team for the pre-seasons. Now they can join forces, and even better, with the house founders’ eyes on all deliveries, not just the runway ones, stores will be getting fashion months earlier. Year round, actually. “The stores are psyched,” McCollough reports.
As has been typical for the duo up until now, this pre-collection is a midway point between two runway shows. The asymmetrical hems, pleating, and stripes of Spring ’17 are present, and so is the emphasis on tailoring and outerwear found in their Fall collection. The handkerchief hem jacket is a definite highlight; Power tailoring is an under-explored category for Hernandez and McCollough, and suits wound up being a key trend at the recent round of shows. Fans of their recent experiments in languid, bias-cut, vaguely 1930s dresses won’t be disappointed, though. This time around they made them in graphic florals with wrap-around waistlines, and were paired with chunky platform sandals or sturdy lace-up boots that gave them a more urbane, tougher spirit. That vibe was reinforced by boss trenches covered in grommets.
